Bass with spinach salad

There's not much better than freshly caught fish, fried by the husband. We had bass for dinner tonight. So tasty!

In addition to the bass, we also had a spinach, pear, almond and blue cheese salad that was too delicious!

Sorry no recipes to share for dinner, but I can share the pear butter recipe from the two flats of pears that we used last night.

Pear Butter:

Core, peel and quarter (at least) 30-40 pears (we filled our large slow cooker).

Add 1 1/2 cups sugar.

Add 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, and nutmeg and cloves to taste (I'm not sure how much were added - the husband did this).

Cook for 12-13 hours.

Wait until cool and then blend.

So tasty and sweet!

Oregeno-Lemon Chicken

I really liked this recipe, even though circumstances at our house (the white dog tore open her paw pad and bled all over the floor, requiring clean-up and bandaging when I should have been taking the chicken out of the oven) lead to leathery chicken.

I got the recipe from this site, but changed things a bit (because that's how I roll):

Ingredients

• 6 bone-in chicken thighs (3 pounds) - I used 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano

Directions

• Place the chicken in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Combine the lemon juice, honey, oil, garlic and oregano; pour over chicken.
• Bake, uncovered at 375° for 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 180°, basting occasionally with pan juices. Yield: 6 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 each) equals 147 calories, 7 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 46 mg cholesterol, 39 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 13 g protein.
It was tasty! I served the chicken with broccoli and wild rice. Made for a tasty meal!

How not to do pork

Tonight's dinner wasn't a total fail, but it wasn't great, either.

I got the brilliant idea to have pork tenderloin and stuff it. The husband enjoys greek salads, so we always have a supply of feta cheese and kalamata olives on hand. So I tried to make my stuffed pork tenderloin with those items.
It didn't really turn out as tasty as I had hoped. It was fine, just not as tasty as I'd been hoping for. In that note, I will not be posting that failed recipe.

However, the side dish that we had with the pork was tasty and the husband approved.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Core the tomatoes and cut off the ends.

Slice the tomatoes thinly and dredge in a cornmeal, bread crumb, and sea salt (just a pinch) mixture on a plate. I don't have actual amounts - I went by looks.

I fried the tomatoes in bacon grease until they looked done, flipped them and finished them on the other side.

Sorry the recipe isn't any more specific - it didn't take very long to finish those suckers.

Tater Tot Casserole

This is something that we have every once in awhile at our house. I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but I did get the original idea for the Tater Tot Casserole from the Dugger family. Of course, I only make one 9x13 pan, and have changed the recipe a bit (I actually include veggies in mine).

To make my tater tot casserole:

Brown 1 lb. of meat (I used hamburger this time, but have used ground chicken or turkey in the past).

Place meat in bottom of greased 9x13 pan. This time, I added Tiger Sauce. Yummy.

Add veggies on top. I used green beans and mushrooms today, but have used a variety of different veggies in the past.

On top of veggies (just add to taste), add 1 bag of frozen tater tots.

On top of tots, add a can of cream of whatever soup mixed with milk (premix the soup and milk).

Bake at 350 for about an hour (until the tater tots are warm).

That's it! A super fast dinner, which is good, since I had an hour and a half between my jobs today. I had enough time to prepare the meal and eat my portion before sticking it back in the oven to keep warm for the husband.

Nutritional Information:

Assuming there are 8 portions, one portion includes


363 Calories
17.1 g total fat
33.5 g carbohydrates

Tonight's dinner: Hot German Rice Salad

Hot German Rice Salad

1 pkg. of hot dogs (8) cut into 8ths.
3 cups cooked rice (1 1/2 C. rice and 1 1/2 C. water)
1 C. diced celery
1 1/2 TBS flour
1/2 C. mayonnaise
2 tsp. mustard (prepared)
1/2 C. milk

Spray a 9x13 casserole dish. Place hot dogs, rice, celery, onion and water in dish.
Mix remaining ingredients.
Stir evenly into dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins.



I love this recipe. It is comfort food at its finest, and super easy to make (and reheat, which is good, since I won't see the husband tonight until much after he gets home from work - I'll be at my second part-time job).

According to my handy online recipe converter - if this recipe makes 8 servings, there will be

Per serving:
267 calories
15.3 g total fat
23.7 g. carbohydrates

Who am I?

I am terrible at introductions, but since I have nothing to blog of note regarding food, I thought the first post would be a good one to use to introduce myself.

I am a married wife, a soon-to-be mother, and owner of two crazy hunting dogs.

I am a complete mess in the kitchen, but I do make some palatable means every now and then (at least, that's what my husband tells me). I will end up with flour in my hair, flour hand prints on my butt (I have a bad habit of wiping my hands on my butt and not realizing it), or jalapeno in my eye.

I am also diabetic, and have to watch carefully what I eat. I'm hoping that a little more accountability will help me keep better track of my blood sugars, so writing what I eat is a good way to do that.

The husband and I have been trying to eat in more - this blog is a great way of making sure that eating in actually happens.

I'm hoping to keep better track of our grocery budget, too, and this blog will be good for that, as well.